Cherry-stoner.



M. A. ROLLMAN & C. J. SCHIEMER.

CHERRY STONER.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 24,

Patented Mar. 27, 1917.

J f: M e n J WWI {a M pfm rin'rrn spans PATENT orrron MICHAEL A. ROLLMAN AND CHARLES J. SCHIEMER, 0F MOUNEL JOY, PENNSYLVANIA.

GHERRY-STONER.

Application filed January 24, 1914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, MICHAEL A. ROLL- MAN and CHARLES J. SOHIEMER, both of Mount Joy, county of Lancaster, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cherry-Stoners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relatesto cherry stoners or devices of the class such as is used for stoning or pitting cherries and other small stone fruit, more particularly cherries. One of the objects of the invention is to so arrange, construct and proportion the parts of the machine that the pulps or meats can be lifted by the stone-ejecting head clear of the stoning socket without danger of the meats or pulps being thrown back, this object being accomplished by providing a stripping surface which, is at substantially right angles to the line of movement of the stone-ejecting head. Further objects of the invention are to provide a simple, practical, durable and efficient device of the character referred to.

These being among thegeneral objects of the invention, the same consists of certain features of construction and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and then claimed with reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating a suitable embodiment of the invention, and in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the device;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged section on the line 2-2 Fig. 1, showing how the plunger and retracting spring are adapted to each other;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line 33 Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44 Fig. 2' showing the hopper and the relationship or disposition of the stoning socket with reference to the pulp stripping surface; and

Fig. 5 is a plan View of the hopper and adjacent parts.

Referring to the drawings, the supporting frame of the device comprises an upright 10, a foot-plate 11 projecting therefrom, and an underhanging arm 12 which is provided with a screw-threaded opening for receiving a clamping screw 13, so that the device may besecured to a table or other support. Rising from the frame 10 is a tubular housing or casing 14, preferably made integral with the frame. Said housing stands approximately at an angle of 45 to the horizontal. Extending transversely of said housing or casing, at one side thereof, is a Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 27, 1917. Serial No. 814,132.

supporting bracket or rest 15, which is inclined at substantially 45 to the horizontal. Upon the said bracket 15 is suitably supportedthe means for feeding the fruit such as cherries to the position to be stoned, and such means comprises a suitably inclined hopper 16 which is provided at its inner end with a portion 17 which stands at an abrupt angle relatively to the body of the hopper 16. The angularly standing portion 1'1 provides a stoning socket 18 at the lower end of the inclined hopper. To the top of the bracket or rest 15 is applied a slitted flexible disk 19 for a well-known purpose, and underneath the position of the disk 19 the rest or bracket 15 is provided with a pitdischarge orifice 20. To secure the hopper and its stoning socket to the rest or bearing 15, preferably adjustable screws 21 and 22 are tapped into the hopper so that by engaging the screws with slots or openings 23, 24; in the front and rear edges of the said bracket and by tightening up the screws, the hopper may be rigidly secured in proper position. The stoning socket will then be positioned in alinement with the slits of the disk 19 and the discharge opening 20, and the diameter thereof will be positioned at an angle of substantially 45 to the horizontal.

. Into the upper end of the housing or casing 11 a reciprocatory plunger 25 is guided, the same being adapted to be pressed into a longitudinal guideway 26 in said housing. The upper end of said plunger is provided with a head or knob 27 to which the hand of the operator is applied and pressed, while at the lower end of the plunger, within the guideway'26 is located a helical spring 28, of suficient strength and proportions to retract the plunger after it has been depressed. By inclosing the spring 28 in the housing or casing, it is protected against injury or dislocation and is practically, if not entirely, hidden from view. Extending longitudinally of the inner side of the housing or casing 14 is a slot 29 which faces the stoning socket 18, and the lower end of the plunger 25 carries an angularly extending arm or plate 30, at the outer end of which is a stem 31 of a stone-ejecting head 32, which preferably consists of radially extending blades having cutting edges at their lower ends, the outer edges 33 of which blades converge toward said cutting edges, so that said head 32 tapers. Said arm .30 is guided through of said abutment means is sufficient to pro-' tect the blades of said head when the blades are in normal position. In this way the p1tejecting head is guarded and protected and is at the same time practically hidden from view. Said pulp abutment means comprises and extension 36 from said plate 34 to which is secured as by a rivet 37, a piece38. These plates 36 and 38 are recessed to provide an enlarged opening 38*" to receive the ejecting head when it is retracted. The parts 36 and 38 constitute two parts of a sectional stripping device, and the under surfaces of these parts lie in substantially the same plane so as to provide a stripping surface 39 which stands at approximately an angle of a5 with respect to the horizontal and in a plane which is substantially parallel with the plane of the diameter of the stoning socket and its concomitant parts. The stripping surface 39 is located sufiiciently to one side of and above the stoning socket as that said stripping surface and said stoning socket are located at opposite sides of a clear space between the two. Such space provides as it were, the operating throat of the machine within whose dimensions the work performed by the machine is substantially confined. IVhen a single fastening 37 is used for said parts such as plates 36 and 38, the part 38 may be held against turning on said fastening by any suitable means such as an interlock at 40.

The operation of the machine will be apparent. A cherry fed into the stoning socket 18 can be pitted by the quick depression of the plunger, and upon releasing the hand, the retracting spring will raise the ejecting. head on which the pulp or meat is impaled, which will then be stripped off by the stripping surface 39 and desposited into a suitable receptacle. It will be seen that the arrangement and disposition of the effective parts of the machine are such that the pitted cherry will be raised clear of the stoning socket and to one side thereof and then dropped into the receptacle which is provided, without going back into the ston- Gopies of this patent may be obtained for ing socket and without'positively deflecting the pitted cherry to one side of an axis which passes through the stoning socket and the stripping surface. 7

There is a peculiar function incident to the 45 angle of the bracket 15, in that the discharge of the pits is rendered more certain than if the angle of the bracket was more nearly the horizontal, as in the latter case the pits are more inclined to adhere to the slitted flexible dislc This resides in the fact that should the pits tend to adhere to the slitted flexible disk, they will under the present invention tear themselves away therefrom due to the greater angularity of said disk.

Obviously a plurality of stoning sockets and a plurality of pit-ejecting heads may be provided. In addition 'to this, it is obvious that many other modifications may be elfectuated as parts may be omitted, parts added and parts modified without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I/Vhat we claim as new is 1. In a device of the character described, the combination of supporting means, a longitudinally slotted housing thereon, a plunger guided in said housing, an arm on said plunger, an ejector on said arm, a plunger retracting spring inclosed by said housing, a stoning socket, a lateral plate on said housing at one side of its slot and. along which said arm is guided, said plate constituting a guard or supporting back for said arm when retracted, and pulp stripping means supported by said plate.

2. In a device of the character described,

the combination of supporting means, a 1on gitudinally slotted housing thereon, a plunger guided in said housing,an arm on said plunger guided in the slot ofsaid housing, an. ejector on said arm, a plunger retracting spring inclosed by said housing, a stoning socket and pulp stripping means, and a stop against which said arm abuts when retracted.

3. In a device of the character described, the combination with a support, of pulp abutment means comprising two stripper parts, one being supported directly by said support, and fastening means at the outer ends of both parts for rigidly securing the other part to the first said part against movement, said parts being solely connected by the said fastening means and having a strippingvsurface transversely of their joint.-

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. i 

